Medical Law
Medical law practice is a highly specialised area of law and our lawyers have the in-depth understanding of issues – legal, professional and ethical – necessary to effectively handle a wide range of medical and health related matters.
We have a team of dedicated lawyers with extensive experience in advising and acting for medical institutions, professionals and statutory boards on medical-legal issues.
The experience of our lawyers and their appreciation of the nuances of medical law enable us to provide clients with comprehensive solutions and strategies.
WITHIN THIS PRACTICE
Advisory & Enforcement (Statutory Boards)
Our lawyers have a wealth of experience advising statutory boards established under the auspices of the Ministry of Health. We are a trusted source of direction and advice in issues relating to the statutory powers and functions of medical boards, as well as in disciplinary proceedings within their responsibility.
Since the late nineties, our lawyers have been advising the Singapore Nursing Board in the execution and enforcement of the provisions of the Nurses and Midwives Act including acting for the board in disciplinary proceedings as well as general advisory work.
Since 2002, our team of lawyers has been working closely with the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board (“TCM Board”) in advising them on all aspects of the functions of the TCM Board including enforcement of the provisions of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act (“the Act”), acting for the TCM Board in disciplinary proceedings, criminal prosecutions and general advisory work. We have successfully represented the TCM Board in a number of notable landmark Supreme Court decisions including Tang Kin Hwa v. Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners’ Board [2005] SGHC 153 and Huang Dan Min v. Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners’ Board [2010] SGHC 152. We have also commenced and conducted criminal prosecutions for breaches of the Act with considerable success.
More recently in 2009, our legal team was engaged by the Singapore Pharmacy Council and our lawyers have since been working closely with the Council in advising and enforcing the provisions of the Pharmacist Registration Act.
Our Rebecca Chew has been appointed a member of the Institutional Review Board which is responsible for reviewing research protocols with a view to safeguarding the rights, safety and well-being of human research subjects. Prior to that, she was a member of the Research and Ethics Committee of the National University Hospital from 2000 to 2004. She has lectured extensively on this topic of clinical trials and medical ethics in conferences including the Asia Pacific Research and Ethics Conference and the Health Law Course organised by the Singapore Medical Association.
Medical Malpractice
Our lawyers have acted for hospitals and patients in medical negligence cases. We have been involved in some highly publicised disputes in Singapore, including The Narinder Case (as popularly referred to by the media) in which our lawyers acted for the National University Hospital in a two-week trial in the High Court and displayed their wealth of knowledge and professionalism.
Our lawyers have also acted for other public hospitals in relation to medical practice, hospital management and other related issues. Our Firm has been on the panel of lawyers for the “Medical Malpractice and Errors & Omissions Insurance” for all the restructured hospitals, institutions and other entities under the MOH Holdings Group.
In 2010, we were also appointed to the panel of lawyers of an insurer to act for medical professionals.
We have frequently been engaged to act for and advise doctors and patients in respect of medical malpractice claims as well as actions against doctors for professional misconduct or breaches of the Ethical Code.
In recent times, we have also represented doctors in disciplinary suits commenced by the Singapore Medical Council.